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atrh tetes aient @Hirn GEORGE N. CRAMER, 0F 'FRENTOI NEW'JERSEY, ASSIGNR TOHlMSELF AND 'JOHN I3. LALOR, OF SAME PLACE.-

Letters .Patent No, 78,265, flater? Jllclg/5 2G, 1868.

A IMPROVED SAFETY-HATCH.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERNE Be it known that I, GEORGE II. CREAMER, of Trenton, in the county of Mercer, in the State of' New Jersey, have invented a new and'iuiproved Safety-Hatch to be used by in erchants and others; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

l i and to the letters 4of reference marked thereon.

` The nature of my invention consists `in the construction of a hatch to be uscdin warehouses, ships, and` other places where it is necessary to have openings in doors, for the removal of merchandise, freight, and other goods from one floor to another, said hatch tuo be self-closing, and tov be opened by a person standing any number of stories above or below the floor, the hatch ot' which is required to be opened.

To enable others skilled in the art toma-ke and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation. I

I construct my hatch of any size to suit the s'ize of the opening through the floor through which the mer` chandiseis required to pass, I construct it either in one single door or carriage', moving to one side of the hatehway, where the sanne is to be opened, or in Ytwo doors or carriages, separating in the middle,'and, when opening the hatchway, the carriages to move in opposite directions, one to each side of the hatchway.

In Figure 1, in the accompanying drawings, a 'top planer view of the hatch closed is shown. The letters a a designate the two halves of the hatch ce, the railway, upon which the hatch runs d d, the rods, to which the cords are attached, which open and close the hatchway; ff, two cords, which open the hatchway; z' z', two cords, which' come together at or near the hand operating the hatch; jj, two levers, acting as locks, by thelighter ends rising. up against the rear ends of the carriages when they are closed, in order to prevent theui from moving accidentally when some one might bc standing upon them; 7c c 7c are four pulleys, through which the ropes or cords render; m is the rope'or'cable, used to raise' .the merchandise, it hanging in an opening designed for it Awhen th'e hatch is closed, by small blocks which prevent the hatch-carriages from coming together too closely.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the double hatch with hatchway closed, showing very fully the workings of the machine. A A are the two hatch-carriages, closing the hat-ehway; B B B B are the wheels upon one side of the carriages, upon which the same run; C is the railway; D D the rods, to which the ropes are fastened, which operate the carriages; E E, two weights, which draw the carriages apart,=by means of Vthe ropes F F, thus opening the hatchway; G Gr,'two weights, which, by the cords II I-I, close the hatchway; I I I, cords, operated upon bythe hand of the person desiring to open the hatchway, which end is accomplished by raising the weights G G. J Jare two levers, which lock the hatch when closed, by reason of the ends J J being the heavier, and throwing the othervends up in the rear ofthe carriages, K K K K K K K are seven' pulleys, through which the ropes render, which are required to operate the hatch. ZZ are two rods, the upper ends of which are fastened in the levers J J, and madetowork ina slot, in order to allow the small Aends, of said levers to work up and down freely. At the lower ends of said rods are two pulleys, through which the hand-ropes pass, so that when the pressure' is applied to these ropes, the rod-sl Z Z are pulled down,`bringing the light ends of the levers J J i with them, thus unlocking Ithe carriages", and the same pull of the said ropes elevating-weights'G G, in doing which the counterbalancing weights to-weights E E are removed, allowing these latter weights to instantly open the hatchway by drawing back the carriages. m is the rope, vby which the merchandise is lifted; n is the joist in the ooring; o o are two slots in which the rods Z Zwork; P P are the pins or hinges, upon which the levers J J work; Q is the hand applied to the hatch-rope. rIbis rope may be carried tothe entire height and depth of the building, in order that a personupon any lloor of the building can control `the hatch.'

Figure 3 is also a side elevation of .the hatch open, but instead of the hatch being divided, as in fig. 2, it consists of but one carriage. a is the hatch-carriage; 6 bare the wheels on one side of the carriage; c is the railway, upon which th'e carriage runs; d is the rod, to which the ropes used in opening and` closing the hatch are attached; e is the weight which draws back the carriage, thus opening the hatchway, as seen in this draw ing, the hatchway in this figure being open; f is the rope eenneetingthe weight e with the rod d; g is the weight which closes the hatcliway, upon the hand or power being removed from the rope J is the locking-lever, which holds ltheearriage firmly to its place when closed 7c 7c c are four pulleys, over which the ropes or cords pass; is-a rod, connecting at the upper end with the lever J. At the lower end is a pulley, over which the hand-rope passes. When the hand-rope is pulled, the rod Zis drawn down, thus causing the level' J to unlock, allowing the carriage to run back and open the hatchway. n is the joist in the ooring; 0 is the slot in which the rod Z works; p is the hinge, upon which the lever J worksg'g is the hand-rope, used in opening the hatchway. Y

By an examination of the forces brought to bear in the operation of the hatch, it will besoen thatin case the handrope should be drawn, (which opens the hatchway,) while a person or any article of freight is upon the hatch-carriages, the same will not open until said weight is removed, so that nothing which maybe on the hatch at anytime, can be thrown down by a person operating upon the hatch from a distant part of the building The reason of this is obvious, viz, the weights E E, in g. 2, areo' just sufficient weight to draw the carriages when lthe same are unloaded, so that a weight, however small, which is upon either carriage, will throw the balance of power in favor of the carriage, and it will .fail to move or respond to the operator on the hatch-rope, so longl as the weight remains there.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The construction and arrangement of hatchwnys, when operated in themannerand for the purpose herein described. L

2. The combination of the hatch-carriages A A, levers J, weights C, cords I, and pulleys c,`ir i the manner and for the purpose herein/described. i

3. The locking-device or levers J, in combination with the trucker carriage A A, in the manner and for the purpose herein described. i

GEORGE N. OREAMER.

VWitnesses:

D. Coornn ALLIsoN, CARRIE FOSTER. 

